


I wanna know your plans

by Stromesquad



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Apartment hunting, Getting Together, M/M, Tyson's inner monologue is a runon sentence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 06:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20237953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stromesquad/pseuds/Stromesquad
Summary: Avs Group ChatTyson: Yo! I am moving to Denver and need to find a place to live. Any suggestions?Colin: I think my building has some openings. I’ll be in Denver next week if you wanna meet me there and see my place.Tyson: Fuck yeah! Let me book my flights.





	I wanna know your plans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [somehowunbroken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/gifts).

“My girlfriend is moving to Colorado,” JT says on facetime with Tyson. 

“Oh,” Tys replies. He probably shouldn’t be so shocked. JT’s girlfriend graduated in May and they’ve been together for a while but Tyson is somehow still a bit blindsided. “I guess I’ll start looking for a new apartment.” 

“Sorry, bro.” JT says. He looks sincere but it’s not that helpful. 

“Thanks,” Tyson says. “I’m gonna go. I gotta start looking for places.” 

“We’re not staying in Boulder. So don’t feel like you have to look there.” 

“Thanks,” Tyson says lamely. It’s not like he was married to the idea of living in Boulder or anything. It’s just familiar since he lived there for the last couple of years and he has a favorite pizza place and knows where the good Chinese is. But he doesn’t wanna live there alone and the commute kinda sucks. “I think I’ll probably head to Denver too. I’m gonna go. Gotta like do research or whatever.” 

And we that he hangs up the facetime call and flips over to the Avs group chat.

**Tyson: **Yo! I am moving to Denver and need to find a place to live. Any suggestions? 

**Colin: **I think my building has some openings. I’ll be in Denver next week if you wanna meet me there and see my place.

**Tyson: **Fuck yeah! Let me book my flights. 

***

So a week later, Colin is picking up Tyson at the airport. He pulls up to the curb in his stupid round sunglasses that he pushes up on his face and nods to Tyson through the open window which is rude to Tyson because Colin is already unfairly hot and when he does that he looks unfairly hotter. And it’s a lot is what Tyson is saying and now he’s crashing in Colin’s guest room for the next five days while he looks at new apartments. 

Tyson sighs and opens the back door and slides his suitcase into the back seat then drops into the passenger seat.

“Good flight?” Colin asks. 

“Yeah, not bad. Airports suck way worse when you’re flying commercial though.” 

“Yup, pretty much. Do you need coffee or anything?” 

“Fuck, yeah. Can we hit Starbucks?” 

“I can do better. There’s a good small place like down the block from my building. They roast their own beans.” Colin says.

Tyson doesn’t groan but it’s a near miss. He had somehow forgotten that if anyone on this team was more of a hipster than Kerf, it was Colin and now he’s got a whole week of fresh hipsterdom to live through after a summer escape in jock land with Dante and Mat. 

“Okay, sounds good,” he says instead. “I’ve been up since five so I’m catnapping. Wake me up when we pull in.” 

“Fair enough,” Colin says and puts the car in drive. 

Tyson dozes against the window for the ride into Denver. He doesn’t have to wait for coffee though. Colin pulls right up to the coffee shop and parks. 

“Didn’t wanna make you wait any longer for your caffeine. You were really sleeping there,” he says as he turns off the engine. “Usually, I’d just park at home and walk but,” he shrugs.

Tyson is incredibly grateful. “Thanks, bro. This is,” he kisses the tips of his fingers.

Colin reaches out and ruffles his hair. “Just wait until you try to the coffee. And maybe get a muffin. They have killer muffins.”

Tyson nods and climbs out of the car. When he walks into the coffee shop it smells like absolute heaven, the perfect mix of bitter coffee and buttery, sugary baked goods mixing together, making Tyson’s eyes widen and his mouth water. 

“Okay, if it’s even half as good as it smells, I might kiss you. What should I get?” 

Colin laughs. “Cold brew with homemade almond milk and a carrot ginger muffin.” 

“Done,” Tyson says and when they get to the counter he orders two of each, handing the barista his credit card and ignoring Colin’s protests.”You picked me up from the airport and you’re letting me drag you around to look at apartments all week. Buying you coffee is the very least I could do.”

“Thanks,” Colin says. 

They pick up their coffees from the end of the bar and Tyson takes a sip. It’s just a little bit sweet and the almond milk is smooth. He can’t put his finger on what the taste is but it’s something and he loves it.

“What sweet beautiful creation did I just put in my mouth?” Tyson asks. 

Colin takes a sip from a reusable straw he pulled from some magical place that Tyson isn’t sure of and then smiles. “They brew it with a cinnamon stick. That’s why it’s sweet without the sugar.” 

“Oh my god. I’m putting cinnamon in my coffee forever. That’s it. I’m never going back.” 

“Just put it in the grounds before you brew.” Colin says.

“Why do you even make your own coffee when you live close to this?” 

“Gotta have some to start the day and walking here is not, in fact, starting the day. Do you wanna eat the muffins here or take them back?” 

“Take them back. I wanna change out of my plane clothes.” 

“Onward,” Colin says and sweeps his arm out and they head back to the car. 

As it turns out, the coffee place is literally two blocks from the apartment building. The building has its own garage which is clutch because you don’t have to clean snow off your car or shovel yourself out which, you know, even though it doesn’t happen that often, still sucked living in Boulder so he adds that to the list of reasons to seriously consider this building. The list now includes: baller coffee shop, hot neighbor, potential free rides to practice when he’s tired, and not cleaning snow off his car. It’s a pretty great list. 

***

The first thing Tyson notices when he walks into Colin’s apartment is that it’s way bigger than he expected but maybe what he really means is that it’s way cleaner than he expected. Everything is neatly in its place and there’s like, actual art on the walls spaced neatly and perfectly evenly like someone actually measured it with a ruler. And thinking about what he knows about Colin, it probably like actually is measured by a ruler which somehow comes out of Tyson’s mouth before he’s even completely processed the thought.

“Bro, did you like, measure the walls with a ruler before you put your pictures up? They’re like, so even.” 

And he kind of wants to shrink himself down into a much smaller size and squeeze under the couch because that’s a really dumb question and why would you ask someone that? 

Colin just smiles and says, “Well, yeah. But not me, personally. I hired a decorator.” 

“Oh thank god. I didn’t know how anyone that put together would deal with me. No one could pick out all this stuff by themselves.”

“Well, I did pick out the paintings, and most of the furniture, I just let her arrange it for me.” 

“Oh,” Tyson says. He kind of just stares around the room awkwardly, holding his bag in his hand. Again, why is Tyson an idiot? He would like to ask the higher powers that allowed this to happen. He’s got a bone to pick.

“Let me show you to your room and then give you a tour of the place.” Colin says.

“Yeah, that would be cool.” Tyson says, mentally telling himself to seal his lips shut so he never has to speak again. 

Colin leads him through to the guest bedroom which has a nice queen sized bed in dark wood. The bedding is a simple grey and white striped pattern with matching grey lamps on the bedside table. Tyson sets his suitcase down at the foot of the bed and nods. He turns back to Colin.

“Tour?” 

“It’s not huge but it’s good for just me,” Colin says as he steps out into the hall. “Definitely not a good place for a roommate.” 

“Oh, I planned on going solo this season, I guess. Don’t know who else I’d live with.” And Tyson doesn’t mean for it to come out sad. He’s not sad, really. Change is just hard and as a pro athlete you go through a lot of it all the time. 

“Sorry you lost your roommate,” Colin says sincerely. 

Tyson looks up at him. “Nah, it’s all good. I should probably learn to like be a person.” He laughs at himself lightly. “Show me the apartment.” 

Colin’s apartment is great. There’s no carpet which is perfect because carpets make Tyson sneeze and they’re harder to clean when he inevitably impulse adopts a dog. The kitchen is a nice size and Colin says it’s organized well for learning to cook which well, Tyson needs to do. The living room is a good size and you can fit a good long couch for napping (which Colin has), and a big TV (which Colin also has). Tyson likes it. 

He adds ‘nap-couch space’ to his mental list of positives about this building. 

***

Tyson doesn’t have any apartment visits planned today but there’s a Rockies game at 7:00 and Tyson kind of wants to go. Vancouver is great but it doesn’t have an MLB team and Tyson loves going to baseball games. 

“Hey, wanna go to the Rockies game tonight?” Tyson asks.

Colin looks up from the book he’s reading. “Yeah. Let’s do it!” 

“Great!” Tyson says and he texts the guy from the front office who always hooks them up when they want to go see the other teams. He gets them good seats behind home plate with the caveat that they have to do photo ops before the game which Tyson is fine with. He likes the attention and he hasn’t posted on insta in a while so it will make his agent happy. 

Tyson adds ‘very local baseball buddy’ to the list.

They head out to the game early, like three hours before the game early and Colin lets Tyson pick the music. He puts on a top 40 station and sings along under his breath. 

Colin laughs, “You can sing out loud you know. I don’t mind.” 

Tyson blushes. He sounds like an idiot when he sings. “Oh, no. I’ll stop. It’s fine.” 

He honestly does try to stop himself because he really have a truly terrible singing voice. Even Grandpa Jost won’t tell him he’s a good singer and Grandpa Jost thinks he’s good at everything. That’s how bad of a singer he is. But then Colin starts humming along and Tyson just can’t help it. He croons along with Ariana Grande and his voice cracks and Colin starts laughing.

And because Colin’s laughing, Tyson is laughing and it’s maybe better than when JT laughs at his singing because that’s an old joke but this is a new one and that’s somehow so very different. 

“Sorry,” Tyson says when he calms down, looking at Colin’s profile. “I’m a terrible singer.” 

Colin just smiles wider. “I don’t mind. I think I kinda like it.” 

It’s kind of a lot and Tyson’s stomach flutters. He turns and looks out the window and goes back to singing along to the radio. 

They park in the player’s lot for the game and meet the Rocky’s PR person at the entrance. They follow her around and do their photo ops in the locker room and put on their jerseys. Once they’re done they head out to the concession stands and get hot dogs and beers before heading to their seat. It’s a good game and it goes by quick. Colin has good baseball commentary that Tyson appreciates. Colin’s a Jay’s fan by virtue of being Canadian but has been happy to adopt the Rockies. 

He falls asleep on the way home.

***

Tyson wakes up in the morning with the sun coming through the blinds. He stretches and yawns and rolls out of bed. He throws on shorts and a t-shirt and makes his way to the kitchen. Colin is standing there, at the stove, shirtless. Tyson stops in his tracks, trying to keep his jaw from hanging open.

Listen, Tyson knows he has seen Colin shirtless literally hundreds of times. He knows he shares a locker room with him. He shouldn’t be this startled by him shirtless but he is, so. 

When he finally gets his shit together and adds ‘hot neighbor’ to his mental list, Colin is saying, “Tyson? You okay?” 

He shakes himself, “Oh yeah. Just not totally functional precoffee.” 

Colin points his spatula towards the other end of the counter. “There’s some in the pot. Sugar and mugs are in the cabinet above. Milk in the fridge.”

“Thank you,” Tyson replies as he ambles over to the coffee pot.

“How do you feel about scrambled eggs with kale, potatoes, and mushrooms? I can throw in some cheese too, if you want.” 

“Sounds excellent, and yes to the cheese.” 

Tyson fixes his coffee and goes to sit at the breakfast bar. He takes a sip of his coffee and hums. “This is good.” 

“It’s from the place down the street. They sell whole bean.” 

Tyson will have to buy some to take back to Vancouver with him. Dante isn’t like super into coffee or anything but this is so good he might actually notice the difference. 

Tyson sits, sips his coffee and watches Colin cook. He wonders if he lives in this building if Colin will mind if he shows up for breakfast occasionally. Fancy scrambled eggs are way better than the plain scrambled eggs he makes. 

Colin plates their breakfasts and comes and sits next to Tyson. He slides a plate and silverware in front of him and Tyson takes a bite.

It’s so good, better than eggs have any right to be. “What do you put in here?” he asks.

“Besides the veggies? Well, I use shallots and I put dill and garlic in the eggs.” 

“I’m so trying that when I go home. Dante’s gonna be so happy. And maybe he’ll stop chirping me about living alone.” 

“Why is he chirping you?” Colin asks.

“He thinks I can’t do anything for myself.” Tyson pauses. “Which, I mean, he’s not really wrong. There’s a bunch of stuff I don’t know how to do but like, why learn? I’m gonna hire a cleaning company and I don’t need to know how to fix stuff because like, I don’t have to.” Tyson shrugs. “Maybe I should learn to cook more stuff.” 

“I can always teach you if you want,” Colin says with a little smile. 

“Thanks bro. Not sure you know what you’re offering.”

“I don’t know. I think it could be fun.”

Tyson smiles back. “I guess I’ll probably take you up on it then.” 

Colin nods and takes a bite of his eggs. “So what’s on the agenda for today?” 

“I have apartment tours at 10:00, 11:00 and 1:30. They aren’t too far from here since I know a bunch of the guys live in this neighborhood.” 

“Okay. Got it.” 

They finish their eggs and Colin heads off to take a shower. 

Tyson texts Dante.

**Tyson: **Colin is too hot and shouldn’t be allowed.

**Dante: **You got a crush, bud?

**Tyson: **No, he’s just overwhelming. He made and ate breakfast shirtless this morning. 

**Dante: **Oof. Good luck.

**Tyson: **Thanks.

***

The first two buildings they tour are meh, in Tyson’s opinion. They’re just kinda average and both of them have carpet which Tyson really wants to avoid, again for when he impulse adopts a dogs when the Avs eventually do a puppy calendar. It’s only a matter of time before that happens. Puppy calendars are gold and the Avs media team love to give the people what they want. And what they want is absolutely a calendar of hot guys with rescue puppies. When Tyson asks Colin for his opinion, he shrugs and makes a face and they move on. 

The positives about these places is that they are mixed use and there are restaurants underneath so, if they’re any good, he doesn’t have to go very far to get dinner. 

When Tyson brings up trying one of the restaurants underneath building number two for lunch, Colin makes a face. 

“They’re not that great. We can do better.”

“Oh?” Tyson asks. 

“I tried a lot of places in the 1 mile radius of my apartment when I moved in and the burger place is too greasy. The salad place is fine but you might as well just make one at home from bagged lettuce. And the smoothie place is all sugar, no substance. Like you’re basically drinking a milkshake.” 

Tyson wrinkles his nose. He’s pretty sure these buildings are out of the running since their one major bonus isn’t such a bonus after all. 

“So where should we go for lunch?” 

“There’s a better burger place by my apartment. We can head there.” Colin says and pulls it up on his phone. It’s on the other side of Colin’s building so it’s not that close to the next apartment they’re seeing but if Colin thinks it’s worth it, Tyson will take the risk. 

It’s pretty crowded when they get there but it looks like they know Colin because the hostess waves to him and points to a booth near one of the windows and Colin smiles and nods.

“Come here often?” Tyson asks. 

“Maybe a little too often,” Colin says with a laugh. “Sometimes like a twice a week after practice.”

“Oh man, I cannot wait to eat one of these burgers.” 

They sit down and order. Tyson gets the barbeque bison burger and it is absolute heaven. And it’s a five minute walk from Colin’s building. He adds ‘not having to find new restaurants’ to his mental list. 

The 1:00 building sucks worse than the first two. 

***

The next day they tour another building in the morning and it’s nice. Wood floors, close to a park, a lot of restaurants, a few of the guys live in the neighborhood. JT said he was thinking about living in that building when Tyson was making a list of places to tour, which, living near your best friend is a huge plus, even if said friend will be living with his girlfriend and probably have less time for him. It’s a little further from the practice facility but it’s closer to the arena which is a plus for game day but not a plus for practice days which there are many, many more of. 

Tyson is keeping this one on the list though. It’s a pretty strong contender. 

His next apartment tour is Colin’s building but it’s not until the afternoon. Tyson takes a nap on the good napping couch while Colin reads some book about yoga and the mind body connection or some shit. 

***

Tyson’s nap turned into an accidental two hour affair and even though he woke up at like noon, he still can’t sleep. He gives up and pads out into the living room, planning to watch TV. He finds Colin, sitting on the couch with a pint of Ben&Jerry’s in hand, sucking on a spoon. He turns when he hears Tyson come in. 

Colin holds out the spoon. “Want a bite?” he asks.

“What flavor?” Tyson asks, raising one eyebrow. Ice cream flavor is extremely important to Tyson and he has much better taste than Other Tyson’s cookie dough blizzards. Chocolate is a must please and thank you. 

“Phish food,” Colin says and turns the container to show Tyson. 

“Oh hell yeah!” Tyson says and he plops down on the couch next to Colin, maybe a little ungracefully but it’s like 2:00 in the morning so whatever. 

Colin takes a scoop of ice cream from the container and holds it out for Tyson to take a bite which is…

Something. Colin got him the perfect bite. Caramel, marshmallow, fudge fish all in one bite. Ice cream perfection. It’s weirdly sensual and Tyson closes his eyes and hums around his mouthful of ice cream. 

“What are you doing up?” Colin asks after Tyson swallows. 

“Couldn’t sleep. You?” 

“Same. Just one of those nights.” 

“Yeah. I think I just napped too much.” Tyson nods at the TV. “What are you watching?” 

“I was just about to put on a documentary about Big Foot. You in?” 

“Yes!” Tyson exclaims. He settles into the couch and Colin passes him the ice cream while he turns on the documentary. He adds ‘ice cream and movie nights without figuring out his own cable’ to his ever growing list of reasons to like this apartment building. 

They pass the ice cream back and forth until it’s gone and then Tyson kind of leans into Colin and Colin wraps his arm around him. He’s warm against Tyson’s side. About a third of the way in, he starts gently running his fingers up and down Tyson’s arm, making his skin crawl but in a good way. He shivers and Colin’s fingers press a little more firmly into Tyson’s skin and Tyson wants.

Tyson wants and he’s never had terribly good impulse control so he does. He pushes up on his knees and turns and kisses Colin. And it’s not like a short and pull back kind of kiss either. Tyson just goes for it, mouth open and eager and he knows he’s kind of shameless but Colin is very hot and Tyson absolutely does not care because Colin kisses him back with heat. Tyson opens his mouth a little wider and Colin slips his tongue into Tyson’s mouth and god, he’s exactly as good of a kisser and he looks like he’d be. 

Tyson moans into the kiss and sucks on Colin’s tongue. Colin pulls him into his lap and Tyson grinds down, getting hard and finding that Colin is too. He whimpers a little. Colin is so fucking hot and Tyson did not expect this.

They make out hot and heavy for a while until Colin pulls back a little breathless. 

“We should probably put this on pause and go to bed,” he says and Tyson deflates.

“Oh, okay,” he says, a little dejected as he climbs off Colin’s lap. He shuffles down to the bedroom. 

As he lays in bed he thinks. He likes Colin a lot if he’s being honest but maybe it’s a good thing Colin stopped them. They’re teammates so it’s probably a pretty bad idea. 

He tries to erase his list of reasons that this apartment building is great and tries to start building one for the other building he likes but it’s not going so well. 

He gives up and tries to sleep. 

***

He wakes up late the next morning after a fitful night of sleep. He’s pretty sure he looks like crap. Colin is sitting at the island sipping a cup of coffee and reading his book. Tyson coughs when he comes in and Colin startles. 

“I think, maybe I’ll stay at a hotel for the next couple of days. Or like move my flight up to today so I can get out of your hair.” Tyson says without looking at Colin. He pours himself a cup of coffee and starts to take it back to his room so he can pack his things when Colin says, “Tyson, wait.” 

Tyson looks up and Colin looks concerned. Like he’s the one who’s done something wrong when Tyson’s the one who threw himself at him. 

“Come sit for a second. We need to talk,” Colin says. 

Tyson’s feet take him to the stool next to Colin. 

Colin sighs and looks at Tyson. “Look,” he says. “I really like you, Tyson. A lot. You’re cute, and you’re funny, and you’re fun to be around. And I’m glad you kissed me because I’ve wanted to kiss you but I didn’t know how to make the first move and I wasn’t sure you’d want me to.” 

Tyson scoffs. “Not want you to? Dude, you’re so hot. And you’re like so smart. You’re like… So much. I don’t know why you’d like me.” 

“Don’t sell yourself so short. You’re amazing. You’re dedicated and you work hard. And you care about the people you love so much. And I’d really like to date you if you’d let me.” 

Tyson smiles. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.” 

Colin leans in and kisses him and it tastes like coffee with cinnamon and ginger in it.

***

Tyson signs a lease for an apartment in the same building as Colin the next morning after a short meeting with the leasing agent. 

He’s got a pretty long list of reasons why this place is amazing which now includes: baller coffee shop, potential free rides to practice when he’s tired, not cleaning snow off his car, space for a napping coucgh, very local baseball buddy, hot neighbor, not having to find new restaurants, apartment on the same floor as hot neighbor, home cooked meals from said hot neighbor, late night ice cream dates, movie nights without having to sort out getting his own cable, and convenient access to make outs with hot neighbor who maybe is also my boyfriend.

Okay maybe ‘your new hot boyfriend lives in the building’ isn’t the absolute best reason to sign a lease but Tyson’s doing it anyway and he’s pretty sure he’s not gonna regret a single minute. 


End file.
